No touchpad

[jll]

Hi,
I suspect this a hardware problem, but posting there got no response so I
thought I'd try here. After a reinstall of Win XP, my touchpad on my Compaq
laptop no longer works. Everything else works fine, e.g. keyboard, ps2 mouse
(I'm using it in lieu of touchpad) and all programs in XP. The Synaptics
driver shows up in Control panel but the functions are greyed out. Touchpad
does not show up in Device Manager. Any suggestions as what to try next? My
laptop is a Compaq Presario 2700 with 512 ram. The Compaq site has some
references, but none that were helpful.
Thanks,
jll

 

[Patrick Keenan]

Hi,
I suspect this a hardware problem, but posting there got no response so I
thought I'd try here. After a reinstall of Win XP, my touchpad on my
Compaq laptop no longer works. Everything else works fine, e.g. keyboard,
ps2 mouse (I'm using it in lieu of touchpad) and all programs in XP. The
Synaptics driver shows up in Control panel but the functions are greyed
out. Touchpad does not show up in Device Manager. Any suggestions as what
to try next? My laptop is a Compaq Presario 2700 with 512 ram. The Compaq
site has some references, but none that were helpful.
Thanks,
jll

it may be turned off in the BIOS, or the basic chipset drivers may have not
been installed - this needs to be done right after the OS install.

HTH
-pk

 

[jll]

it may be turned off in the BIOS, or the basic chipset drivers may have
not been installed - this needs to be done right after the OS install.

HTH
-pk

Hi Patrick,
Thanks for your response. I got into the BIOS but the selections seem very
limited to me. I looked around in there and could find no references to the
touchpad or for most of the other periferrals. Only items mentioned were the
hard disk, the floppy and the CD Rom drive. Settings for the parallel port
were the only thing found under I/O devices. Is this because the chipset
drivers are not installed? I have a driver disk from Compaq, would they be
on there? The disk is 4 years old and updates are probably available
somewhere. I'm not that familiar with chipsets so any advice you can give me
will be appreciated.
Thanks,
jll

 

[Patrick Keenan]

Hi Patrick,
Thanks for your response. I got into the BIOS but the selections seem very
limited to me. I looked around in there and could find no references to
the touchpad or for most of the other periferrals.

Most systems allow you to at least enable or disable it, and it may be
disabled. You may have to dig a little deeper, check the manual, or
contact Compaq Support to locate the setting.

Only items mentioned were the hard disk, the floppy and the CD Rom drive.
Settings for the parallel port were the only thing found under I/O
devices. Is this because the chipset drivers are not installed?

No. Drivers are meaningless at the BIOS level.

I have a driver disk from Compaq, would they be on there?

They should be.

The disk is 4 years old and updates are probably available somewhere. I'm
not that familiar with chipsets so any advice you can give me will be
appreciated.

You should be able to find the drivers on the Compaq/HP site, in the support
section, using the exact model number from the bottom of the laptop.

HTH
-pk

 

[jll]

Most systems allow you to at least enable or disable it, and it may be
disabled. You may have to dig a little deeper, check the manual, or
contact Compaq Support to locate the setting.


No. Drivers are meaningless at the BIOS level.



They should be.


You should be able to find the drivers on the Compaq/HP site, in the
support section, using the exact model number from the bottom of the
laptop.

HTH
-pk

Hi Patrick,
Still no luck. Compaq says to use the F10 key to access the BIOS, which I
have been doing. This BIOS is empty for all practical purposes. Would
updating the BIOS help or get me in worse trouble? I used the drivers disk
and obviously it did not help. I'm convinced my problem is BIOS related, as
you say, but getting into the BIOS, as it exists now, gives me no options to
enable anything.
Thanks for your input,
jll

 

[Patrick Keenan]

Hi Patrick,
Still no luck. Compaq says to use the F10 key to access the BIOS, which I
have been doing. This BIOS is empty for all practical purposes. Would
updating the BIOS help or get me in worse trouble? I used the drivers disk
and obviously it did not help. I'm convinced my problem is BIOS related,
as you say, but getting into the BIOS, as it exists now, gives me no
options to enable anything.
Thanks for your input,
jll

Have you looked here?
http://www.synaptics.com/support/troubleshooting.cfm#p1

 

[jll]

Have you looked here?
http://www.synaptics.com/support/troubleshooting.cfm#p1

Hi Patrick,
Yes, I've tried every driver available on the Compaq and the Synaptics sites
with no luck. Most drivers say that the touchpad has to be recognized by
Windows for them to work. That's the problem. Windows does not recognize the
hardware. I've shut down disconnected the cable, booted, then shut down
again reconnected and rebooted and Windows is not showing that it found new
hardware. Maybe the cable is bad, or the MB is bad or the fact that it is
not enabled in the BIOS (I don't know if that would prevent Windows from
"seeing" the hardware.). In any event, I'm ready to quit. It's works fine
with a mouse and that's OK with me.
Thanks for your help.
jll